axoxnxs Anthony Jay Ptak axoxnxs ™ Anthony Jay Ptak Follow @axoxnxs
My apparatus frees the composer from the despotism of the twelve-note tempered piano scale.
- Lev Sergeivich Theremin, 1927

Introduction

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Anthony Jay Ptak is an altermodern artist and a composer born in Brooklyn, New York in 1970. He grew up near the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the RCA Radio Central testing facility. An inviolable autodidacticist, he has studied with Tony Conrad, Paul Sharits, Lydia Kavina, and Herbert Brün, and had technical consultations with Robert Moog. He performed at the First International Theremin Festival. He has been a guest theremin artist under director Scott Wyatt at the historic Experimental Music Studios at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 2000. He was appointed visiting researcher in 2001, and participated in the C4A Computing for the Arts initiative for Fine and Applied Arts at UIUC. He taught sound art and musique concrète for new media artists at the School of Art and Design at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has presented at Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), School of the Art Institute, Chicago Cultural Center, St. Louis Art Museum, Krannert Art Museum, FFMUP Princeton University, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, Roulette Intermedium, The Kitchen, and Issue Project Room in New York. He was first introduced to the theremin in 1987 by improviser Eric Ross. He began playing an etherwave theremin kit 0017 in 1995. A. J. Ptak is a founding member of the New York Theremin Society. He currently resides in New York City and was a visiting scholar at NYU Department of Art and Art Professions. In fall 2008 he was admitted to the Interactive Telecommunications Program ( ITP) at Tisch School of the Arts, (M.P.S. 2010). He performed Live Bar-coding at NIME 2010 Sydney, Australia. In 2011 he joined adjunct faculty at NYU Department of Music. Anthony Ptak was diagnosed with brain cancer CNS lymphoma in 2011, currently in remission.

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New music of this twenty-first century requires, in fact it necessitates, a non-music. Sound as art is an axis of information constrained only by our perceptive bandwidth, dismissive of all systems and parameter limitations.

- Anthony Jay Ptak, 2006

Table of Contents

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Anthony Ptak performing Interference in 2006.
 

stars 1997 20 year anniversary photo of lesson with Lydia Kavina. Photo by Olivia Mattis.

Livestrong Ambassador YMCA

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I was diagnosed with CNS Lymphoma (brain cancer) in 2011. This form of cancer has a devastating effect on the central nervous system. I lost control of my left hand, arm, and leg. My vision was also double. I was told by my doctor that if I worked to retrain my body and mind I could recover much of my strength and function. Fortunately I found out about the Livestrong Program at the YMCA in 2012. I partnered with my trainers Janet and Yalitza at the Chinatown YMCA to work on strength training, cardio exercise, swimming, aerobics, and even basketball, and boxing to get myself in shape. Most importantly going to the YMCA built my confidence, as I continue to recover today. I consider the YMCA a home away from home, a place where I am welcomed, and encouraged to grow mentally and physically. Thank you YMCA. -ANTHONY PTAK, 2010s | CHINATOWN YMCA

Xtremecane

Xtremecane is Extreme Cane Athletics. I walk with a cane at the competitve level. Xtremecane.com and People of the Cane are on the web and social media platforms.

Xtremecane ™ Anthony Jay Ptak I walk with a cane at the competitive level. -A.J. Ptak Following a Brain Cancer diagnosis, CNS Lymphoma (in remission) I had to walk with a cane after and during extensive rehabilitation. Walking with a cane in NYC has become my extreme sport and so I came up with the idea to combine extreme sports attitude with walking with a cane as motivation. This is the start of Xtremecane.com I use a specialty cane made by Sabi brand, the Sports Roam all-terrain model. For my HD camera, I currently use a Contour Roam 2 1080p model. I may try a Gopro or others as I experiment with this project in the future.I use a Google Chromebook. I wear Adidas shoes. I am open to sponsorship; I have high medical bills to pay, so feel free to contact me. I train at the YMCA, I also practice Qigong and Aikido martial arts for balance. Thank you for your support. -Anthony Ptak

The cane is the new skateboard - AJ Ptak

Disability Pride Parade NYC:2018 Creative Expressions

Disability Pride Creative Expressions. Parade NYC July 15, 2018

Art, Disability, Labor

For Freedoms Town Hall 2018 Brooklyn Museum front view

The For Freedoms Town Hall October 2018 Town Hall: Art, Disability, Labor. Sunday, October 21, 2018 2–4 pm. Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Pavilion, 1st Floor. In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, join us for a town hall exploring the intersections of art, disability, and labor, organized in partnership with Art Beyond Sight and the Fair Wages Task Force as part of the For Freedoms 50 State Initiative.

For Freedoms Town Hall

3D Prototype LaGuardia Studios

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I transposed my 2 dimensional graphic drawing into a 3 dimensional sculpture object using a 3D printer. The work is tactile, accessible, similar to a braille for music, learned by touch, for any instrument object or action. Accessibility in art. Developed for and inspired by Art Beyond Sight following ADI Art Disability Institute 2017.

Dis Exhibition

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Dis opens at the Gallery at Industry City 2017.
Opening Reception:June 22, 2017, 6:00pm–8:00pm.

The Gallery at Industry City is located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Entrance at 254 or 274 36th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232.

Dis is on view from Thursday, June 22, 2017 - Saturday, July 22, 2017.

Read the dis Press release by The Dedalus Foundation and Art Beyond Sight.

See the dis exhibition catalogue

Read an article about my experiences at Dis and ADI. The Future of Art is Disabled

Official Dis Installation Images

View the official Dis gallery images.

ADI 2016 Gallery slides

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ADI Gallery slides for application, 2016. link Slide show gallery work for artist nomination application review.

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My goals as an artist are to promote acceptance of difference and to design a society which allows for empathy and degrees of freedom despite the constraints we may find ourselves challenged by — whether genetically encoded, or otherwise acquired, in the complexities of our society.
— Anthony Ptak, 2015
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ADI Symposium 2017

Thursday, May 18, 2017 • 2:00pm - 8:30pm. Dedalus Foundation, 25 E 21st Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10010.

Symposium

Press release Thursday, May 18, 2017 - 2:00pm to 8:30pm. Art Beyond Sight's inaugural class of Art and Disability Institute artists will be joined by thought leaders and professionals in contemporary art, disability studies, art history, media, cultural studies, and the social sciences to explore these and other related subjects.Dedalus Foundation 25 East 21st Street, Fourth Floor 10010 New York , NY United States

Artist Talks

dis at The Gallery at Industry City 274 36th Street, Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY 11232 Saturday, July 8, 12:30–5pm. The inaugural artists of ABS's Art and Disability Institute converge their diverse body of work under the banner of dis, three letters that can reverse, revoke, rebuke, rebuff or, perhaps, release social stereotypes. These artists redefine"dis" as both a subjective and objective experience. Artist talks at dis.

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ADI Exhibition Opening Reception

Thursday, June 22, 2017 • 6:00pm - 8:00pm. The Gallery at Industry City, entrance at 254 or 274 36th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232.

On view from Thursday, June 22, 2017 - Saturday, July 22, 2017.

Creativity:Solving Problems within Constraints

Art and Medicine

brain cancer in orange painting

Article on Leonardo by Eathan Janney.

Writings:the Story You Tell

  1. Read the Ephemeral Piano Concerto by Anthony Ptak
  2. Read Why Try article Disability Stories on Medium.com by Anthony Ptak (external link)
  3. Read about the physician who saved my life. Mission Remission by Anthony Ptak
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I bridge distances between disparate communities. I speak the language of technologists, create change, and advocate access and openness by seeing what others will not see, and saying what others will not say. I am an artist, composer, interaction designer, educator, critical thinker, musical scientist, performer, public speaker, writer and brain cancer survivor.

- Anthony Jay Ptak, 2017

Sweet Gongs Vibrating

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UCSD. SDAI. San Diego Art Institute, 1439 El Prado, San Diego. Sweet Gongs Vibrating is a multimedia, multi-sensory exhibition that aspires to activate the sensorial qualities of objects in order to illustrate alternative narratives regarding access, place and space. Brought to you by SDAI curator-in-residence Amanda Cachia, Sweet Gongs Vibrating opens Saturday, March 26, from 6 to 8 p.m. and runs through Saturday, May 28, 2016.

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Difference Frequencies

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Difference Frequencies NYC Art Exhibition at the Creative Center, October 2nd through November 28th, 2015:Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery St. New York, New York.
Featured solo performance of Difference Frequencies by violinist Serge Zenisek on October 2nd, 2015.
An article in Upworthy about this exhibition, read here. Also featured on NYU Tisch ITP site here


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Notes on an exhibition
Difference Frequencies. Because it encompasses ideas about Difference in the social sense of Disability, and a more theoretical understanding of wave based physics, and biological differences found in the Trisomy realm of genetic encoding. And the political and social dialectic that produces a difference as a product of input to a given systematic schema. The answer lies somewhere in the numbers 3 and 21. -A.J. Ptak 7/2015

Make Music New York

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Make Music New York presents... 12 Theremini Mass Appeal ensemble performance on Roosevelt Island FDR Four Freedoms Park conducted and composed by Alexa Dexa. Summer 2015. Theremini workshop sponsored in part by Moog Music

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Photoville 2014

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September 19, 2014 7:30 – 10:00PM a special live event – Anthony Ptak performs theremin soundtrack live as part of Narratively After Dark at Photoville NYC. Accompanied by world premiere of the Xtremecane project, a video art projection and live Question/Answer session at Brooklyn Bridge Park, NYC.

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NY Theremin Society International, Edition

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The New York Theremin Society:International Edition concert at Joe's Pub on June 28, 2013 at 425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003. The world premiere of Simplexity.13

Brain Cancer 2011:Mission Remission

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Diagnosed with CNS lymphoma, brain cancer in February 2011. In remission since August 2011 after undergoing chemotherapy.
linkRead DNAinfo story here.
linkRead Narratively story here.
linkWatch the video Up! produced by the YMCA of New York City.
linkView the Xtremecane preview.

Solving Problems within Constraints:

link LocateFlow Interview by neuroscience researcher Eathan Janney, recorded at New Media Lab, CUNY. linkView the @Sabi_brand cane blog feature. img

NIME 2010

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New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Sydney, Australia 2010. NIME Live Bar-coding

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MATA Interval 3.1:

Architectures of Sound

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 Doors Open at 8PM Site-specific performance and composition.
Issue Project Room @ The (OA) Can Factory 232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11215. MATA Interval 3.1.
Announcement on Sequenza21.

Big Screens 09

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Project 21 for Big Screens 2009 was designed Fall of 2009. It was on view at the IAC Building on 555 W 18th Street, New York, NY. Friday, December 4, 2009 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm. Interactive Telecommunications Program. Screen dimensions for the video wall 120 ft x 12 ft.

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Elusive Instrument

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